AN ESSENTIAL GUIDE ON THE UTILIZATION OF THE GODAVARI WATERS AND RESOURCES

The RoFR act recognizes the dwelling site, religious places, burial grounds, village council sites along with places of MFP, water resources, biodiverisity etc and also PVT tenures. As the implementation boils down to title deeds for house sites and lands under cultivation, SAKTI engaged the Chenchu youth to document their traditional knowledge in their idiom and dialect, in encouraging them to assert as inborn foresters, capable of managing these resources as envisaged in the Act.

"Since SAKTI activities are mostly issue based and covering a large area, here we concentrate on the forest-related programmes of SAKTI for the present study."

Articles

By Our Staff Reporter

The Hindu. April 16, 1999

DAMMAPET (Khammam dist). April 15.

Police look over the protection of non-tribal properties and crops at Gandugulapalli - the home village of the Minister for Major and Medium Irrigation, Mr. Tummala Nageswara Rao. Farmers in the vicinity are on high alert as the village too experienced the hear of the land struggle.

The bone of contention was the Government land in the illegal occupation of non-tribes. As the Tribals sought to reap cashew crop in a piece of land being enjoyed by a non-tribal farmer on April 11, police swung into action and lathgicharged them. Some are the Tribals, which trigged a fresh wave of Protests in area.

A triabl activist, Mr. Soyam Channdrasekhar, was arrested along with a few others allegedly involved in the incident. The police, however, denied to have resorted to any harsh action against the Tribals and claimed to have arrested only those who led the Tribals in trespassing into the patta lands of non-tribals.

An old woman, Mrs. Kunja Gangamma, who got her hand fractured in the lathicharge, admitted that about 30 of them entered the cashew garden and went on picking the cashew nuts until the police forces arrived on the scene and started beating them up. The youths managed to escape while women and the old bore the brunt of the attack. The police also snatched away about a quintal of cashew nuts they collected from the garden.

Another woman, Mrs. Chapa Mangamma, accused the Dammapet Sub-Inspector of abusing women while chasing them away from the garden. Badly beaten up by them was, Mrs. Jare Venkatamma who was vociferous in demanding the distribution of land in the occupation of the non-Tribals.

She said the police removed her to the Sathupalli hospital as her condition was serious. Some constables let loose a reign of terror in the village. They did not spare even the relatives at their houses after the Incident. A tribal youth, Mr. Tathi Veeraswamy, alleged that he was detained in the gram panchayat office building of Gandugulapalli village and beaten up brutally by the police.

He said policemen have been patrolling the area round the clock. Some of them in plain clothes have been keeping a tab on the movement of the Tribals. He said that about 32 acres of Government land was in the hands of six-acre land was alienated from them and assigned to Tribals from the neighbouring village. No landless tribal from within the village could get the land allotment so far.

Mr. Madakam Mutyalu, district joint convenor of the Tudum Debba, a tribal Organisation, on Thursday condemned the incident and appealed to the Government to take immediate steps to release the tribal activists who were arrested in connection with the incident and fix the responsibility on the police officials concerned for the lathicharge.

A delegation of the CPI (M) comprising its central committee member Mr. TAmmineni Veerabhadram, the district Secretary, Mr. P. Somaiah, and the Palair MLA, Mr. Snadra venkata Veeraiah, visited the village to take stock of the situation Addressing a meeting in the village, Mr. veerabhadram said police action on the Tribals would be counter-productive for the Government.

He wanted the district Minister to act as a role model and ensure the surrender of the Government land, if any, in the possession of his family members f=so and help solve the land problem. About seven acres of Government land found to be in the enjoyment of a close relative of the Minister and it was yet be handed over to the revenue authorities for distribution to he Tribals.

He urged the tribal protesters to spare the non-tribal farmers with small landholdings and concentrate more on those enjoying hundreds of acres in violation of the Scheduled Area Regulations. He said over 6,000 acres of Government and tribal land was in the possession of non-tribals in Dammapet mandal.

About 3, 000 acres of land in the illegal occupation had been located so far in the land surveys conducted during the past one year. The district administration had been claiming to have already assigned the land to the landless. But the ground realities were otherwise. Many of the Tribals were give pattas without giving possession of the land, he said.

W.P. No. 5515/87 M.P.No.7398/87 Date:May 1987

W.P. No. 6175/87 M.P.No.8273/87 Date:May 1987

"Managing Director Godavari plywoods ltd. Rampachodavaram E.G.Dt. be and hereby is directed not to cut any mango trees, jamun and jack trees and cutting the forests of Maredumilli mandal, E.G.Dt."

Only matured or dying trees were to be felled. Jeelugu (Caryota urens) palm, trees yielding minor forest produce like tamarind or cane brakes, creepers were not to be touched. A gap of 20 meters from a stream.) --Times of India, April 30, 1991.

The candidate has chosen a topical subject, very relevant to our thinking on culture, cognition and language. He has red widely and is familiar with the literature that matters. His linguistic and anthropological reasoning is sound. His language is clear and simple.

...evidence of the investigator's ability as a linguist by special training and as a linguistic anthropologist by self - cultivated interest.

The only information the government or media always compile carefully is on Naxalite encounters, never the violations of the instruments of rule of law such as minimum wages, fifth schedule, mismanagement of forests, equity in the distribution of welfare benefits, displacement, fragmentation of Socio-economic entities etc.

INDIRA SAGAR (POLAVARAM) CENTRAL EMPOWERED COMMITTEE ORDER

if the R & R is found to be lagging with reference to the fixed bench marks, the construction should accordingly be deferred / stopped;